Pizza spatulas are commonly used to remove a slice of pizza from an entire pizza to carry the slice to some other location for use. For example, in a pizza shop where various pizzas are displayed on a counter so that customers can select a slice or slices to be heated in the pizza oven, a conventional spatula or server having a flat blade or base is commonly used to pick up the slice to carry it to the oven for heating. After the slice has been heated the spatula is again used to place the heated slice on a plate (if the slice is to be eaten in the shop) or in a box or bag (if the slice is to be taken out). The use of such a conventional spatula for this purpose is problematic in that the pizza slice on the spatula is susceptible to slide off of the spatula's blade. This is particularly true of the width of the slice is greater than the width of the spatula's blade, as is commonly the case. Moreover, there is also the risk that the pizza slice or a portion of it can fall off of the spatula's blade as the spatula is pulled away due to some parts of the slice not being completely separated from an immediately adjacent slice of the pizza.
The same problems hold true when a conventional spatula is used to serve the pizza. For example, in a pizza shop or restaurant where a whole sliced pizza on a tray is brought to the table of a customer to enable the customer to pick up a particular slice using a conventional spatula, the pizza slice picked up or a portion of it may slide off of the spatula blade. Moreover, if the selected slice is not completed cut or separated from the immediately adjacent slice a portion of the immediately adjacent slice may be pulled off and fall from the spatula.
The patent literature includes various spatula devices which have been designed to overcome those disadvantages of conventional spatulas to enable a slice of pizza to be removed in one piece and held securely on the device so that it or a portion of it will not slide or otherwise fall off. Examples of those devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,903,981 (Grow, II) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,313 (Casper et al.), and in U.S. Publication Nos. 2003/0034662 (Wilson), 2005/0011074 (Mounce), 2006/0130336 (Christensen et al.), 2007/0251098 (Smith et al.), and 2008/0134517 (Bosworth et al.).
While those devices appear generally suitable for their intended purpose they leave much to be desired from the standpoint of simplicity of construction, cost and ease of use. Accordingly, a need exists for a simple, low-cost, easy to use, safe and efficient spatula for picking up and transporting pizza slices. The subject invention addresses that need.